A Chasing After Wind

I've finished watching the Star Wars sequel series (for which I was quite spoiled).

( But I won't spoil you unless you want )

I think I'm done with the Star Wars universe - I don't see myself rewatching anything or pursuing any other Star Wars stories. I enjoyed what I saw but did not love it, and I have satisfied my curiosity.

 

I'm watching the Star Wars prequel trilogy. I just finished The Phantom Menace. I watched the original trilogy all the way through for the first time a few months ago. I watched it more out of curiosity than anything else. I'd seen parts of it and heard a lot about it, and was curious. I didn't particularly like it. So I didn't particularly expect to like the prequel series, but, again - I am curious. I'm not sure I've ever watched a three-part action epic that the viewers go into knowing it will have an unhappy ending.

 

I get the Jar Jar Binks hatred. He's a character who could be tolerable in small doses, but that was not small doses, especially earlier in the movie. The internet tells me that George Lucas' justification for the character was that Star Wars is aimed at children. But if I'd watched this movie as a child I think I would have had less patience for Jar Jar Binks' antics.

 

(Also, I'm sorry, but if Star Wars is aimed at children, what the fuck was up with Princess Leia in a bikini with a chain around her neck? Do kids really need to be exposed to something like that?)

 

Anyway, I wasn't crazy about it but I will be watching the other two movies.

 I am watching Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope for the first time. I saw part of Episode V as an adult, but aside from that haven't seen any Star Wars movies. Of course I am massively spoiled, but it's still interesting to see how things play out. I thought the movies would start with Luke - I wasn't expecting to meet Princess Leia, Darth Vader, and robots first, and not encounter Luke until nearly twenty minutes in.

I do have a problem with how similar Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill look. I can't keep them straight in action sequences.

I'm reading a book called Lose Your Mother, by Saidiya Hartman. It's about the African slave trade, part travelogue, part history, part historical fiction.

I'm in volume 17 of Fullmetal Alchemist.

In the podcast I listen to, You're Wrong About, I've just reached the episode on Enron. I'm interested in this because I'm old enough to remember the scandal, but not old enough to have understood it at the time.

One song I've been listening to a lot is "Only Children" by Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit.